Soft Couch with Bushes and Streamers, 1986

oil on canvas

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Recognized for drawing upon her everyday life for the subject matter of her work, artist Gathie Falk mixes the personal with humour, irony, and even a sense of the absurd. Playing with notions of interior and exterior, in this painting she brings the outdoors in, with her unique vision of a landscaped living room. The red couch that dominates the composition suggests a darker, more aggressive element in contrast to the playful nature of the streamers and shrubs. The artist feels that trees and bushes create a powerful effect, eliciting in the viewer a reference to nature, to a sense of peacefulness and beauty. More than mere houseplants, the shrubs improbably grow out of the floor, suggesting a ridiculous form of interior decor that also doubles as the very structure of the house. The shrubs remind one that nature creates architecture as much as humankind does.